Written by Sophie Tanno, CNN
The pioneering publisher widely credited with growing the iconic – and often infamous – Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue at a cultural institution has died at age 96.
Jule Campbell died on November 19 in New Jersey. She will be remembered as a “feminist trailblazer” who made significant contributions to the fashion industry, according to Sports Illustrated.
Campbell joined Sports Illustrated as an assistant and reporter in the magazine’s fashion department. in the early 1960s, after a season on Glamour.
Her career took off after the launch of SI’s swimsuit issue, which was first suggested by managing editor Andre Laguerre to fill the magazine’s typically slow winter months.
Its first iteration, a six-page cover featuring model Babette March wearing a white two-piece bathing suit, appeared in January 1964. Campbell’s work on the swimsuit issue began the following year, and he soon established her. as a powerful figure in the industry.
Campbell (right, with binoculars) on set during a 1995 swimsuit issue shoot. Credit: joan truscio
Eschewing much of the “skinny chic” aesthetic praised by the fashion industry at the time, Campbell’s vision was clear. About her casting process, she told journalist Michael MacCambridge in an interview for his book “The Franchise: A History of Sports Illustrated Magazine” that “I went to California because I thought we should use more natural types of women.”
“I wanted them to look like real people who were beautiful, and I think our audience related to that,” Campbell said in his obituary, quoted by Sports Illustrated.
His first model of choice was a fresh-faced teenager named Sue Peterson, who appeared on the cover of the 1965 swimsuit issue in a black one-piece with side slits and a red belt. She set the precedent for decades of scantily clad white model issues and, while far from what would be considered an overtly revealing swimsuit today, decades of reader outrage.
(As Sports Illustrated noted in a roundup of letters from readers commemorating the 50th anniversary of the swimsuit issue in 2014, the first critical letter to be published in print came from a Columbia, SC resident. South, saying, “I certainly don’t want Those images coming into my house for my teenage son to ogle, let alone me. Think of the thousands of other young people across the country that you are influencing, and not do this just for what may be financial gain.”) The 1978 issue of the Swimsuit Issue reportedly broke records for the number of letters from readers after it featured a photograph of model Cheryl Tiegs ( who, at the time, had already appeared on two of the covers of the swimsuit issue) in a white leotard that exposed her nipples. Swimwear. “We thought it was a throwaway photo,” Tiegs said of the controversial image in a 2014 interview with the Florida Naples Daily News.
Beyond the canceled subscriptions, the swimsuit number also sparked protests from groups, including the National Organization for Women, which accused the magazine of objectifying women.
Models from the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue wear swimsuits designed by Pompei Beach in New York on April 24, 2008. Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Campbell retired in 1996. Her last issue featured Tyra Banks, the first black model to grace the magazine’s cover (although Banks shared the cover with Argentine model Valerie Mazza). Other famous models who starred in the swimsuit issue under Campbell’s tenure included Elle Macpherson, Christie Brinkley, Kathy Ireland, Paulina Porizkova, and Carol Alt, among others.
Since 1997, the swimsuit issue has been printed as a stand-alone edition, separate from the regular magazine. It has expanded into television specials and documentaries; a reality series and an open casting call.
In recent years, a greater commitment to diversity on the pages of the issue has seen the inclusion of plus-size, transgender, and disabled models. Many athletes, including tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Naomi Osaka, skier Lindsey Von, wrestler Ronda Rousey, and racing driver Danica Patrick, have been featured in the magazine and on its cover; Celebrities like Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, and Megan Thee Stallion have also landed cover spots.
“Shooting the cover made me feel really empowered and happy,” Megan Thee Stallion told CNN in 2021 of her cover shoot that year. “It made me feel good to know that women with bodies like me can be celebrated. Not just the standard guys we’ve seen before.”
Source: news.google.com